Who who, who, who

Vegan here. Interesting question! I think you’re going to get a different answer depending on the vegan you talk to. Personally, this is the definition of veganism I subscribe to:

“Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.”

By that definition, for me, it is not vegan. If the VFT has been grown by humans, and fed insects, then that is non-vegan, because there was a lot of animal suffering that went into growing that VFT. Furthermore, VFTs are not required for sustaining the human body, so the only reason to do this is for human pleasure or something.

Edit to add: if the VFT was found in nature, I probably still wouldn’t consume it, because 1) I don’t even know if VFTs are edible 2) if they are, I’ve got better food with me that probably caused less animal suffering, and are less morally ambiguous.

I think you made a typo in your first sentence. I think you meant to say it’s non-vegan in that scenario.

I also highly recommend the audibook

I’ll check them out. I just started the bobiverse books, which are also similar and have the same narrator.

Fair enough. I missed that requirement. Personally, I wouldn’t be able to listen to most audiobooks while working, but I guess it depends on what kind of work. If it’s mindless work like washing dishes or driving, no problem.

Emergency Skin is also really good, but its a short-story.

Project Hail Mary is my #1 fav audiobook, hands down. Just don’t look up anything about it beforehand, because spoilers would really ruin it. All you need to know its about a scientist on a spaceship who has a very important mission.

Not all Amish view technology as entirely something against their religion. Peter Santenello has a bunch of great videos where he interviews Amish people and understands their culture. This is a good one on that topic: https://youtu.be/EgY1SVXiBrU?si=E2zTNOhQxm6Qcgff

Whoa, this works on Android too. I had no idea you could do that! Thanks for the tip!

HOW ARE YOU HOLDING UP? BECAUSE I’M A POTATO

I tip higher at small restaurants than at chains

Thank you for that image. “big portion” is a bit vague, and this does clarify it. To me, 11% is quite a lot of that pie, when you think about:

• Electricity is becoming greener every day due to solar and wind being cheaper than oil and gas
• Transportation is getting greener via EVs
• Industry is getting a focus from people trying to create green concrete and steel

Here’s another chart that breaks down that agriculture portion. My understanding is methane is mostly due to cow farts, and nitrous oxide is mostly due to animal urine and fertilizers.

We need to make impacts in all of these sectors, if we’re going to fix climate change.

Re: meat tax, we could start by just not subsidizing meat and dairy.

This is the thing. In isolation, enjoyment is a decent argument for anything. But you have to step back and look at the impact of things to see if it’s a good or bad thing.

In the case of animal consumption, the pros are:

• it tastes good
• it’s convenient
• it means people don’t need to change.

(People often add “it’s nutritionally necessary” here. I know I did. But that’s a myth. You can get everything you need from plants. If that wasn’t the case, vegans would be unable to live whole lives without issues, but that’s happening)

The cons?

1. It causes millions of land animals to be killed every single day, many in a very scary painful way. If you include fish, that jumps up to hundreds of millions
2. Animal farming contributes to a big portion of the emissions that are causing climate change.
3. It’s an extremely inefficient way to produce food for humans. Just think: in order to produce one pound of meat, how much input grains/grass/whatever was there? Why not skip the middleman and eat the plants directly?
4. Industrial fishing is destroying our oceans, which also contributes to climate change.

I could go on, but I digress.

But these are the things I came to learn when I went vegan last year. So it came down to a simple question in the end: do the pros outweigh the cons? Do my tastebuds matter enough to contribute to all those problems? The answer was clear enough for me

I struggle with using the word spirituality w/ meditation as well, because of the mentioned connotations. But I think this is roughly the definition people use that does kinda fit: “Spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is cosmic or divine in nature.”

And that feeling does resonate with me a bit. I don’t believe in any supernatural or religious deity, but I do believe we’re all part of something bigger in a very literal sense. Meditating and being mindful and reflecting on life are ways for me to remember that bigger whole.

So in that sense, I’m “spiritual” but I don’t use that word personally.

I’m in the process of making this switch. I’m a transplant in the US south and I’ve always been a bit averse to y’all because it feels too southern, but I think that’s the one I’m going with. It’s the best fit I’ve found. And I’ve noticed it getting more popular elsewhere in the world, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it.